Author Topic: Am I crazy?  (Read 7704 times)

jedichikin

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Am I crazy?
« on: April 13, 2018, 09:00:18 PM »
Updated and more information added

My wife found her dream home, in our town. It’s price tag is almost double the value of our current home.

OUR STATS
37 and 35 years old. $125k in salary/rental income, and We have a 13 year old daughter.

Own a $180k townhome that is paid off and rented out for $1250 monthly, same tenant for 3 years. No plans to sell, plan to let the rent help on the new mortgage.

Owe $128.5k on our home valued at $420k, 5 years into a 30year mortgage at 3.375%. Plan to sell and use proceeds as down payment on new home.

Our area is expected to appreciate by about 5% this year after previous years closer to 10%, so now may be as good a time as any to get into my wife’s dream home and it should  continue appreciating at a similar clip for a few more years.As we are in a very in desirable part of middle Tennessee. We also have a 13 year old daughterand area near Nashville, tn.

$220k in our 401ks currently contributing 15%, I have lowered both of our contribution levels to free up some cash in case we pull the trigger.

$29k in a Roth IRA (27.5k is able to be withdrawn immediately should the need arise)

$53k available in liquid assets, $7k in take home income, with $300k down on the new home our payment would be $2100 including taxes and insurance .

$90k available in 401k loans should the need arise.

No debt other than our home, our current house payment is $1130 per month, this purchase would add $1000 to the housing cost including taxes and insurance. The idea of a larger asset appreciating over the long run intrigued me. And I understand that bubbles pop but don’t see a bubble where I live but understand a lot of smart folks didn’t see one in 2008 either. The house is about 20% larger than our current home. I understand this sort of thing is all relative, but I was just curious on some of your thoughts. Our current income keeps us very comfortable and I like to have a motivator to push me to save more and our current living situation has allowed me to max out my 401k this year and honestly I like making my wife happy and as I get older the more YOLO creeps into my mind.

Price tag on her dream home is $640k, I would want to sell our home and put the proceeds down if we purchased her dream home (300k+ down). I was surprised that the banker I spoke to today told me that we would qualify for the loan which I understand is like getting financial advice from a dealer at a blackjack table). Our real estate market has performed very well for the last 6 years, with no signs of slowing down. Rates are creeping up, it may be insane but I was curious to know your thoughts. I currently pay down about $800 extra in principle each month on our current home and would just turn this amount into the additional amount for the higher mortgage. At least that is the plan. Thanks for reading, apologies for any typos from my ipad.
« Last Edit: May 05, 2018, 04:44:06 PM by jedichikin »

JLee

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2018, 09:47:08 PM »
That's over five times your annual income...holy crap.

What other costs are involved? How much more is this house going to cost in maintenance? HVAC? Taxes?

Syonyk

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2018, 10:46:05 PM »
Yup.

You're crazy.

A $640k home on your income/assets is best described as an "albatross."  Especially if the current housing bubble does what housing bubbles tend to do (which is most assuredly not "become the new normal").

Little Aussie Battler

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2018, 11:08:52 PM »
It's all relative.

In Sydney house prices are close to 10x income, the debt isn't deductible and you can't fix the interest rate for the duration of the loan (most people have a variable rate loan that can re-price at any time).

Personally it doesn't sound like a bad deal. How are your finances otherwise? How far are you from retirement?  If prices are rising, why not keep the existing house and rent it out for a while? If you can afford the repayments, that could become a nice little money spinner in retirement.

Raenia

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2018, 06:34:50 AM »
Is it your dream home as well as your wife's?  Do you feel the need for the extra space, or is it just more to clean and fill with stuff?  Is it closer or farther away from your work?  Is it a home you can age -in-place in better or worse than your current home?  Could you imagine retiring in your current home?  In the new home?  Or would you plan to downsize once your kid has flown the nest?

Don't buy it because it's an appreciating asset, you have no way of predicting if it will actually hold value, appreciate, or crash unexpectedly.  Only buy it if the changes to your lifestyle (shorter commute, closer to library, grocery store, parks...) are all positive and you can both see yourselves being happier in this house than the current one - for concrete reasons, not just hedonic adaptation.

Even if you do buy it, do not take a 401k loan or withdraw from your Roth for this.  If you have to do that, you can't afford the house.  Make sure you have a robust 'house stuff' fund for after the purchase, for painting, new carpets, and all the other little things that inevitably pop up.  It sounds like you want to do this, but make sure you're accounting for everything before making the decision.  Decisions about homes are often made from a more emotional place than any other large purchase.  Make sure that's not blinding you to details that could sink you in the long run.

MayDay

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2018, 06:41:13 AM »
That is a lot of house.

You don't have much in your retirement accounts, and this is not an income generating property.

You probably can make it work, but why do you want to? My dream house is a million dollars, but that doesn't mean I'm actually going to get it, just because I could restructure my total NW to make it work.

Morning Glory

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2018, 07:08:32 AM »
What is it that your wife loves about the new house? Could you modify your existing house to meet some of her wishes?

Would the new house increase your quality of life by decreasing commute time?

What do you plan to do if you sell your existing house and then someone outbids you on the dream house?

Papa bear

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #7 on: April 15, 2018, 07:38:26 AM »
Crazy if you want to retire early.


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Jon Bon

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #8 on: April 15, 2018, 02:12:38 PM »
7/10 Crazy

So yeah somewhat crazy.

My biggest issue actually is not buying the house. It is the fact you have a paid off town home paying you $1250 a month. How much is left after taxes, maintenance, and insurance?

$800 bucks?


So you are clearing 9600 before income tax on this place? so 9600/180000 = 5% return?

 I would be selling the town home yesterday!

YMMV

Gone Fishing

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2018, 02:23:35 PM »
How many square feet are we talking here?

Laura33

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2018, 08:54:12 AM »
Yeah, you're nuts.  You've been working, what, a decade or so now?  And you have about 1.5x salary invested, plus another 1.5x in equity in a rental unit.*  You're doing great by normal American standards, but even your current savings is not going to get you to FIRE any time soon.  And now you want to decrease your savings and increase your expenses?

A house is a consumption choice.  It is not an "investment," because the only way you can realize any gains is by selling, and if it is your "dream house" you aren't going to want to sell anyway -- plus you're always going to need a place to live, and once you get used to the luxuries of said dream house, it's funny how your expectations of the kind of place you "need" change.  So if/when you do sell, you're very likely to throw any gains into your next place anyway.

My rule is that any consumption choice must fit into my current budget, without affecting the savings I need to be on target to FIRE by my chosen date.  I.e., if I decide I want a new house, or a StupidCar, or whatever else, it comes out of something else I would have spent money on; my savings is sacrosanct.  And the fact that I would need to cut back on savings to buy something is, to me, the clearest indicator that I can't afford it, because then I would be letting a "thing" interfere with my more important priorities.

If I were you, I'd start by looking at my desired FIRE date, and figuring out what I needed to be putting away to get there by that time.  That comes off the top.  What you have left is what is available to spend on all of my other priorities and consumption goods. 

Of course, that assumes you actually want to FIRE more than you want your wife's dream house.  But this is MMM, so that tends to be the operating presumption.

Also:  don't forget to consider (1) the very significant additional carrying costs for a larger/more expensive residence, and (2) the additional years you will be paying that much-higher mortgage, since you will be restarting the 30-year clock.

*I am not ignoring the very significant equity in your primary residence.  It is great to have a paid-off home by the time you FIRE to minimize expenses, but home equity is not really something you can "count" as part of your 'stache unless you are prepared to sell and downsize.  See discussion of "home as investment."

formerlydivorcedmom

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2018, 09:24:44 AM »
What are your family's financial goals?  It's best to have measurable goals with a timeframe attached.  Then you can evaluate your progress against those goals and decide if you can really afford to upgrade.

You don't mention any college savings for your daughter.  Will you be helping her with expenses after she graduates from high school in 5 years?  Do you plan to buy her a car, etc, in 3 years?

Are you planning for early or traditional retirement?  How much will you need in retirement funds?

Do you really need the extra space, especially with just 3 of you?  That's more to clean, possibly more yard work to do, increased utility bills, potentially more maintenance, and increased taxes that are going to keep going up and up.

frugaliknowit

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2018, 09:28:06 AM »
Is it your dream home as well as your wife's?  Do you feel the need for the extra space, or is it just more to clean and fill with stuff?  Is it closer or farther away from your work?  Is it a home you can age -in-place in better or worse than your current home?  Could you imagine retiring in your current home?  In the new home?  Or would you plan to downsize once your kid has flown the nest?

Don't buy it because it's an appreciating asset, you have no way of predicting if it will actually hold value, appreciate, or crash unexpectedly.  Only buy it if the changes to your lifestyle (shorter commute, closer to library, grocery store, parks...) are all positive and you can both see yourselves being happier in this house than the current one - for concrete reasons, not just hedonic adaptation.

Even if you do buy it, do not take a 401k loan or withdraw from your Roth for this.  If you have to do that, you can't afford the house.  Make sure you have a robust 'house stuff' fund for after the purchase, for painting, new carpets, and all the other little things that inevitably pop up.  It sounds like you want to do this, but make sure you're accounting for everything before making the decision.  Decisions about homes are often made from a more emotional place than any other large purchase.  Make sure that's not blinding you to details that could sink you in the long run.

+1  Homes are primarily CONSUMPTION items, not investments.

secondcor521

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2018, 09:47:06 AM »
We bought our dream home in about 2004.  It was over 2.5x our previous home's value, on a 2.5x lot, with about 2x square footage.  Our previous home was comfortable in a nice neighborhood but it was getting a little small for us.

This is what happened to us.  Not saying it will happen to you, but it's a cautionary tale:

1.  We got 80/10/10 financing.

2.  The house appreciated about 25%.

3.  The house had bigger carrying costs:  Two mortgage payments, higher utilities, higher landscaping costs.

4.  My wife decided she wanted to make it even more dreamy by continuing to add and buy things for the house.  I thought buying the dream house and putting whatever she wanted in it when it was built was the end of it.

5.  Because of the big mortgages and my interest in saving money and the realization behind #4, we became house poor and I became cranky and stressed and more depressed than I was.

6.  A good offer came along to quit my job and go back to school.  So with my wife's and her family's (rah-rah, not financial) support, I took the offer.  Yes, I was an unemployed grad student living in a very expensive house.

7.  Shortly after that, she divorced me, partly due to #4 and #5.  Fortunately the house had appreciated enough (#2), so we could sell it and get down payments on two houses out of it.

We were happier in the smaller house because we could make the payments, save a lot of money (achieving a lot of my goals), and spend a lot of money (achieving a lot of her goals).  The bigger house put a big strain on all that and exposed our different life directions.

Not that it matters much, but I did finish the grad degree, got a better job, paid off my next house in about 8 years, and am now retired.  Still sad about the divorce and what it did to our kids.

Easye418

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2018, 10:19:08 AM »
That's over five times your annual income...holy crap.

What other costs are involved? How much more is this house going to cost in maintenance? HVAC? Taxes?

5X is insane, I think OP knows that, I also think OP knows what he is going to do.

IMO, find a balance.  Life is too short to constantly kick your dreams down the road, but don't spend like a drunk sailor.

Our current income keeps us very comfortable and I like to have a motivator to push me to save more and our current living situation has allowed me to max out my 401k this year and honestly I like making my wife happy and as I get older the more YOLO creeps into my mind.

This is what I am referring to... YOLO is real.  Many many many people here put in tons of time and effort within their 20's and 30's to enjoy their 40's and 50's, that is their choice, nothing wrong with that.  IMO, that is insane to give up your youth, but hey, it is THEIR choice. 

Thats why I find myself in the middle of spender and saver spectrum...
« Last Edit: April 16, 2018, 10:23:07 AM by Easye418 »

neil

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #15 on: April 16, 2018, 11:43:04 AM »
+1  Homes are primarily CONSUMPTION items, not investments.

Yep.  I haven't really tried to calculate it this way, but I figure homes essentially have a $/sqft cost (near everything from insurance, taxes, maintenance will generally scale up with value and size) and my goal when buying a house will be to select what I need that will make me content, and no more.  (There may be some opportunity cost also associated with stock investment vs home equity as well.)

I think a balance of home ownership+stocks is generally more stable than 100% stock+renting because of inflation exposure, but never mistake that there will still be associated costs.  As a renter, the landlord is making a profit, but there will be a point where more house purchased vs what you would rent would result in higher cost.  Would you rent this house?

In the end, you can do what you want and it's ok to want something more than another.  In general, homes don't give me much of a warm fuzzy and I am lucky to spend more than 10% of my life in a room that is not the kitchen or bedroom.  Most of the people here are along these lines; you don't need our permission to do anything, but you should always be recognizing the cost and additional risk when making these kinds of decisions.

obstinate

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #16 on: April 16, 2018, 10:14:13 PM »
Our area is expected to appreciate by about 5% this year after previous years closer to 10%
I've never met a real estate agent who expected the area to depreciate. And yet that does happen.

Reynolds531

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #17 on: April 16, 2018, 11:09:29 PM »
Secondcor521 I'm not going to quote that post for space but Jesus Christ!

Reading that was like watching a car crash. I hope the universe makes that up to you.

secondcor521

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #18 on: April 17, 2018, 06:59:59 PM »
Secondcor521 I'm not going to quote that post for space but Jesus Christ!

Reading that was like watching a car crash. I hope the universe makes that up to you.

Thanks.  It wasn't my first choice, but I'm making the best of the cards that have been dealt to me, so I'm OK.  And the kids are doing OK, so that's all that matters to me.

DS

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #19 on: April 18, 2018, 07:42:39 AM »
Yes

Carrie

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #20 on: April 18, 2018, 07:57:55 AM »
What I would do in your shoes:
1. Max out the 401k
2. Contribute fully to two IRAS
3. Set aside some money into a 529 for daughter
4. What's left? Determine if a dream house is actually necessary right now (it's not, btw). Start gratitude journals (both of you) and notice daily what is fantastic about where you currently live. Notice how easy it is to make your house payment. Notice how little you spend on utilities, maintenance, taxes.
5. Stay put for 5 more years, build up the stache, get daughter out on her own or to college, then revise dream house to a smaller home that can be a lateral move. Comfort with a small mortgage  (or no mortgage!) is a beautiful thing when you're in your early 40's. It opens up so many possibilities not to spend 30%+ of your take home pay on a house.
6. Never consider retirement accounts or home equity loans as accessible money to fund a grander lifestyle.

HPstache

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #21 on: April 18, 2018, 08:02:44 AM »
You're not crazy... you're just heading towards normal. 

Dragonswan

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #22 on: April 18, 2018, 08:39:08 AM »
I can see why you started a thread.  This is quite the conundrum. 
Con:  You can't afford a 640K house on your current income.
Pro:  You can afford a 340K house comfortably on your income (300k down).
Con:  If you buy the dream then carrying costs go up too (maintenance, utilities, property taxes, want new stuff for house)
Pro: You seem to be doing well in the savings department but not on track to retire early.
Question:  Can you buy the house and max out your 401K each year?
Question:   Do you want to retire early (say before 60)?  Because if so your savings rate needs to go way up and you should invest that $800/month instead of spending it on the new mortgage.
Neutral:  Since you've been adding $800 a month extra to the current mortgage the new 340k mortgage should be about the same as you're paying now, so if you're comfortable now, the new mortgage is a wash.
Disclaimer:  I'm not mustachian, I'm LBYM and spend deliberately on things that will genuinely make you and yours happy. (not the keep up appearances and expectations competition pseudo-happy)

So basically this is a bad idea if you want to retire before 60.  But if you're fine with "normal" retirement age then this is a perfectly reasonable purchase given your circumstances.  It becomes less of a bad idea if you know your salary will continue to increase at regular intervals (say a government job with automatic regular increases).  That way you could invest your raises each year to increase savings rate, but the new mortgage would be basically the same (prop taxes will increase).

Easye418

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #23 on: April 19, 2018, 01:43:15 PM »

Disclaimer:  I'm not mustachian, I'm LBYM and spend deliberately on things that will genuinely make you and yours happy. (not the keep up appearances and expectations competition pseudo-happy)


Well, you are wrong, you will fail miserably, you are just accepting lifestyle creep, bad, bad, bad 

- everyone else on this forum but me and you

Sibley

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #24 on: April 19, 2018, 02:50:30 PM »
I'm assuming said dream house is larger than current house.

Leaving out the money aspects, how much time do you currently spend cleaning? Because when you increase the size, you'll be increasing the time spent cleaning. And somehow, when you double the size it's more than double the time. Are you prepared for that? Add in maintenance, repairs, etc.

Plus, your daughter may be 13 now, but in 5 years she'll be 18 and on her way out of the house. Is that big house really going to be a dream once it's just you and your wife?

My advice: what's your dream life? What does housing look like in that?

marty998

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #25 on: April 19, 2018, 03:30:48 PM »
I'm with the Australian on this one @Little Aussie Battler.

$640k sounds like a tiny amount of house by our Sydney standards :) Especially at a low 30 year fixed rate.

If you recognise that you'll have a lot of equity tied up in the house, then that is fine, provided you have an exit strategy to use that equity one day (e.g. by downsizing). Otherwise, yes it will delay your FIRE a bit.

How long it delays is up to you and your wife, and your income and expenses (to state the obvious).

dhc

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #26 on: April 19, 2018, 07:05:26 PM »
Yes, you're crazy.

Think of it this way: would you sell your house, cash out your 401(k)s and IRAs, and put all of your liquid cash into the house? Even if you did, you'd still owe more on your mortgage than you do now, while having entirely wiped out every bit of savings you have.

This is a major step in the wrong direction. And everyone knows a bigger house has to come with fancier appliance, fancier cars, fancier schools...just don't do it.


Edit: thought of another comparison:
Is there anything else you spend $30,000 every year on? Would you be willing to give it up entirely for this house? We talk a lot about the craziness of clown cars here; buying this house is as bad as buying a brand-new clown car every single year for the next 30 years. Are you out of your mind?
« Last Edit: April 19, 2018, 07:09:17 PM by dhc »

Easye418

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #27 on: April 20, 2018, 10:55:41 AM »
Yes, you're crazy.

Think of it this way: would you sell your house, cash out your 401(k)s and IRAs, and put all of your liquid cash into the house? Even if you did, you'd still owe more on your mortgage than you do now, while having entirely wiped out every bit of savings you have.

This is a major step in the wrong direction. And everyone knows a bigger house has to come with fancier appliance, fancier cars, fancier schools...just don't do it.


Edit: thought of another comparison:
Is there anything else you spend $30,000 every year on? Would you be willing to give it up entirely for this house? We talk a lot about the craziness of clown cars here; buying this house is as bad as buying a brand-new clown car every single year for the next 30 years. Are you out of your mind?

False.

ChpBstrd

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #28 on: April 20, 2018, 02:17:46 PM »
We bought our dream home in about 2004.  It was over 2.5x our previous home's value, on a 2.5x lot, with about 2x square footage.  Our previous home was comfortable in a nice neighborhood but it was getting a little small for us.

This is what happened to us.  Not saying it will happen to you, but it's a cautionary tale:

1.  We got 80/10/10 financing.

2.  The house appreciated about 25%.

3.  The house had bigger carrying costs:  Two mortgage payments, higher utilities, higher landscaping costs.

4.  My wife decided she wanted to make it even more dreamy by continuing to add and buy things for the house.  I thought buying the dream house and putting whatever she wanted in it when it was built was the end of it.

5.  Because of the big mortgages and my interest in saving money and the realization behind #4, we became house poor and I became cranky and stressed and more depressed than I was.

6.  A good offer came along to quit my job and go back to school.  So with my wife's and her family's (rah-rah, not financial) support, I took the offer.  Yes, I was an unemployed grad student living in a very expensive house.

7.  Shortly after that, she divorced me, partly due to #4 and #5.  Fortunately the house had appreciated enough (#2), so we could sell it and get down payments on two houses out of it.

We were happier in the smaller house because we could make the payments, save a lot of money (achieving a lot of my goals), and spend a lot of money (achieving a lot of her goals).  The bigger house put a big strain on all that and exposed our different life directions.

Not that it matters much, but I did finish the grad degree, got a better job, paid off my next house in about 8 years, and am now retired.  Still sad about the divorce and what it did to our kids.
ME TOO!

1. Bought a 2700sf dream mansion with 80/20 financing for our maximum house budget. Sold a 1600sf house. Dreams of early retirement would dawn on me just one year later.

2. Per Zillow, the house appreciated negative 8% in five years because they redrew the school zones right after we moved in. We're now zoned for a very impoverished elementary where academic outcomes are low across all demographics.

3. The house has bigger carrying costs. Higher utilities, taxes, and maintenance costs. It's been 5 years of backlogged DIY projects. One of our toilets has been out of commission for a year, so we only have TWO OTHER TOILETS REMAINING.

4. My wife also wanted to make it more dreamy by buying more and more things to put in it. Now we have enough decor and furnishings for an even bigger house. I start sneaking things into boxes to put in the attic. Meanwhile, the garage starts to get messy.

5. Because of the bigger mortgage and realization of #4, I become grumpy and start criticizing when the Amazon boxes arrive twice a week with overpriced useless shit from Etsy. I do the math and realize had we stuck with the old house, we would both be retiring about 3y earlier. At that point, I realize I had actually sold much of my life in exchange for that shit from Etsy and having a place to put it. Grumpiness is not good when trying to sell one's spouse on FIRE.

6. My wife goes to graduate school and then gets a much higher paying but stressful job. The stress affects us both.

7. (This part of my story is still being written. 2 years of marriage counseling is really helping. We are shopping for a house to which to downsize. I measured the rooms we actually use on a daily basis and came up with about 1200sf. But we cannot fully agree on what we want. I have a big garage full of tools 'n shit, she has a bunch of decor, and we both have multiple closets worth of clothing. No 1200sf house has space for all our shit so we're in a holding pattern, watching interest rates rise as we contemplate what we've done to ourselves by mistakenly buying this "dream".)

jedichikin

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #29 on: May 05, 2018, 11:34:36 AM »
That's over five times your annual income...holy crap.

What other costs are involved? How much more is this house going to cost in maintenance? HVAC? Taxes?

Property taxes will go up by $100 per month, utilities by probably $50 per month. Similarly sized home on more land. Mostly one level compared to 2 story now.

jedichikin

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #30 on: May 05, 2018, 11:37:00 AM »
What is it that your wife loves about the new house? Could you modify your existing house to meet some of her wishes?

Would the new house increase your quality of life by decreasing commute time?

What do you plan to do if you sell your existing house and then someone outbids you on the dream house?

Bigger lot, mostly one level, nicer neighborhood.

No.

It’s new construction, so we’d pick another lot.

jedichikin

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #31 on: May 05, 2018, 11:48:01 AM »
7/10 Crazy

So yeah somewhat crazy.

My biggest issue actually is not buying the house. It is the fact you have a paid off town home paying you $1250 a month. How much is left after taxes, maintenance, and insurance?

$800 bucks?


So you are clearing 9600 before income tax on this place? so 9600/180000 = 5% return?

 I would be selling the town home yesterday!

YMMV

Clears over $1000 per month, so closer to 7%; but if I sold it we’d have to pay taxes and depreciation so in no situation am I walking away with $180k anytime soon. idk if any of you live in Nashville but it’s been a good place to own property. We didn’t and don’t have the bubbles of years past, just good appreciation because it has been undervalued for years. To those that are giving honest feedback thank you so much, this was just an idea. But to those who are talking down and being condescending, keep scrolling.

slow hand slow plan

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #32 on: May 07, 2018, 12:42:05 PM »
Nashville home values are up 12.2% YOY.... The average home price has more than doubled since the recession and is higher now than ever....so ya it could be a bubble just like everywhere else. It looks like houses lost an average of 25% during the last recession which is less than most places but it hardly makes the area immune to future recessions either.

jedichikin

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #33 on: June 25, 2021, 02:56:15 PM »
Nashville home values are up 12.2% YOY.... The average home price has more than doubled since the recession and is higher now than ever....so ya it could be a bubble just like everywhere else. It looks like houses lost an average of 25% during the last recession which is less than most places but it hardly makes the area immune to future recessions either.

Just wanted to give an update, a lot has changed in 3 years. I have maxed out retirement accounts all 3 years since then.
The house is now worth conservatively $200- 250k more than it was when purchased. With no signs of slowing down, the low rate mortgage is more than manageable as our incomes are up about $40k since the original post.

Still married, have purchased less than $1k worth of additional furniture-luckily we purchased pre pandemic and this place is way better suited to 2 people working from home than the previous home. Essentially this place is a home as well as 2 home offices. The paid for condo is now generating $1350 in rent. Thanks to all who commented!

sailinlight

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #34 on: June 25, 2021, 03:40:57 PM »


Just wanted to give an update, a lot has changed in 3 years. I have maxed out retirement accounts all 3 years since then.
The house is now worth conservatively $200- 250k more than it was when purchased. With no signs of slowing down, the low rate mortgage is more than manageable as our incomes are up about $40k since the original post.

Still married, have purchased less than $1k worth of additional furniture-luckily we purchased pre pandemic and this place is way better suited to 2 people working from home than the previous home. Essentially this place is a home as well as 2 home offices. The paid for condo is now generating $1350 in rent. Thanks to all who commented!
Yay, I just saw this thread. Glad everything worked out!

BlueHouse

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #35 on: June 25, 2021, 03:47:14 PM »
I just saw this thread and came to tell my story. 

I bought a "dream house".  Sometimes I call it a clown house because it's way too big for me, but I still love it.  I can move anytime and pull out a ton of money, but I don't know where else I'd go right now.  My house really has brought me happiness:   the location, the layout, the extra space (especially over the past year), the neighborhood, the access to free entertainment, etc.

I'm really glad it worked out for you. 

As many others have said, we make the choices and prioritize based on what's important to us.  At another stage of my life, I won't be able to use all the features of my house, and then I'll move.  I also realize that I got lucky in a lot of ways. 

jedichikin

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #36 on: June 25, 2021, 04:06:44 PM »


Just wanted to give an update, a lot has changed in 3 years. I have maxed out retirement accounts all 3 years since then.
The house is now worth conservatively $200- 250k more than it was when purchased. With no signs of slowing down, the low rate mortgage is more than manageable as our incomes are up about $40k since the original post.

Still married, have purchased less than $1k worth of additional furniture-luckily we purchased pre pandemic and this place is way better suited to 2 people working from home than the previous home. Essentially this place is a home as well as 2 home offices. The paid for condo is now generating $1350 in rent. Thanks to all who commented!
Yay, I just saw this thread. Glad everything worked out!

Thanks so much!

jedichikin

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Re: Am I crazy?
« Reply #37 on: June 25, 2021, 04:07:29 PM »
I just saw this thread and came to tell my story. 

I bought a "dream house".  Sometimes I call it a clown house because it's way too big for me, but I still love it.  I can move anytime and pull out a ton of money, but I don't know where else I'd go right now.  My house really has brought me happiness:   the location, the layout, the extra space (especially over the past year), the neighborhood, the access to free entertainment, etc.

I'm really glad it worked out for you. 

As many others have said, we make the choices and prioritize based on what's important to us.  At another stage of my life, I won't be able to use all the features of my house, and then I'll move.  I also realize that I got lucky in a lot of ways.

Life is totally a gamble, and noone gets out alive. Thanks so much for your kind words!